AlmostAdventurous: Portuguese - Day 12 (15-Oct-2018): Padron to Santiago de Compostela (25.7km)

We heard rain in the night and it was still raining when we got up. Breakfast was simple - downstairs from the dormitory is a bar - croissants and coffee. We waited a bit to let the rain ease up (not by much though) and headed out into the more-or-less darkness. The route was easy to follow and enough light to avoid the water puddles. The first hour or so was split between lanes and walking on sidewalks along the busy highway. We continued to be back and forth and along the highway for most of the morning. Stopped for coffee and continued. At the half-way point we had a “cerveza con limon” (beer and lemonade) and split a bocadillo. The rain, which had been off and on for the past hour ceased for the rest of the way - a few times we put our parkas back on but the rain never really got going again. We were mostly away from traffic and on quieter roads. As we entered the suburbs of Santiago we stopped for a snack and then continued. It seemed to take forever before we entered the town proper and reached familiar streets and finally our destination of the Cathedral of Santiago, dating to the 13th century. From our first visit in 2013 until this last July, the front of the cathedral was shrouded in netting and scaffolding during the extensive restoration. The last of the scaffolds was removed last July. Now the front of the cathedral can be viewed in its entirety. We did the usual photo taking in front of the cathedral and greeted several groups of pilgrims we had met while on the way. After a celebratory glass of wine we checked in to the The Last Stamp Albergue where I had stayed last summer - it’s a nice and modern place. After doing laundry we wandered a bit and had dinner.